Article 5 questions with a UVa beat writer

Eric

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I recently sat down with Kris Wright who runs a UVa website called thesabre.com....here are his answers to my questions.

1. For the Georgia Tech fans that are not too familiar with UVa...Fill us in on the UVa team...What are the strengths and weaknesses?

Kris Wright/TheSabre.com: With the team mired in a four-game losing skid, it is probably best to start with the weaknesses. The offense struggles to maintain any sort of consistency with the offensive line having trouble with holding its blocks and quarterback David Watford having issues with his reads and accuracy. Turnovers haven't been as big of an issue for the offense in the past two weeks, but that was a big weakness early on this season. Defensively, the biggest issue has been allowing big plays. The Cavaliers will force three-and-outs, limit long drives, and look good for a while ... but as of late, teams have been hitting 20+ yard gainers at too high of a rate. I won't keep going, but that list could be much longer on both sides of the ball.

As for strengths, when the offensive line does find a groove, it has helped establish a running game two of the last three weeks and that takes advantage of Kevin Parks' ability at running back. He's been the most consistent performer arguably on offense so if the Hoos can get him touches, there is something to build around. The offense also features two very capable tight ends in Jake McGee and Zach Swanson, who both can be pass-catching threats to pick up yards. The strength of the defense is probably the front seven, though it has sputtered a bit with the absence of injured tackle Brent Urban. Safety Anthony Harris has picked off a few passes this season too, including a critical one in the win against BYU back in the season opener.

2. We at Georgia Tech know all about Tenuta...How do you feel his scheme will match up against the triple option?

Kris Wright/TheSabre.com: It could be a tale of extremes. I could see the aggressive nature of Tenuta's defense giving the triple option problems by getting into gaps, disrupting timing, and putting the Jackets behind the chains a little bit. I could also see GT ripping off big yards on pitch plays and counter plays when that aggressive nature runs UVa into an overplay or missed assignment. The past two weeks have seen containment issues on the perimeter of the Virginia defense and that has to be a concern against Georgia Tech with the triple option's ability to get the ball to the outside.

3. UVa has been on a skid lately...What are the mean reasons behind that and how can it be turned around?

Kris Wright/TheSabre.com: See above - the list is long. Seriously though, Virginia is inconsistent in its execution and inconsistent in its strategy (sometimes aggressive and sometimes almost complacent). That leads to long stretches in the game where no one is making a play that sparks the team. Then when things start to turn sour or start to go downhill, the Cavaliers don't handle that adversity well and it gets out of hand in a hurry some weeks. In order to get things turned around, some players are going to have to start making some plays to change momentum and give the team the belief that it can win.

4. For UVa to win the game what must happen?

Kris Wright/TheSabre.com: On offense, I think UVa needs to include more misdirection and counter-attacks to prevent teams from dialing in against the bread-and-butter Pistol and I formation runs. Then David Watford needs to find receivers and those guys need to hold on to the ball consistently. On defense, the Hoos will have to stop the dive play first and then figure out how to string out the back half of the triple option so that the upfield attack-the-gaps mentality can have an impact. The D also needs to prevent any big plays down-the-field in the passing game because those have been back-breakers in losses to Ball State, Maryland, and Duke.

5. Score prediction?

Kris Wright/TheSabre.com: Jackets by 20.
 
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